The Winter Meetings have been a dud so far, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sure spiced things up in the middle of the afternoon. In a meeting with reporters, Roberts spoke freely and openly about the team's pursuit of Shohei Ohtani, was was surprising considering it was reported weeks ago that Ohtani wanted talks to be private and that any leaks of information would be held against teams. At first it seemed that Roberts must have been cleared to speak so openly about the pursuit, but then came a text message that darkened Roberts' expression, a huddling with PR staff, and the Dodgers' GM stating that he was "surprised" by Roberts' comments and that he refused to confirm the team had even met with Ohtani.
In San Francisco Giants-related news, Farhan Zaidi and Bob Melvin continued to convey that the Giants are shopping at the tippy top of the free agent class. This echoes what we have heard from SF Giants broadcasters Mike Krukow and Dave Flemming in recent days. The Giants—unlike Dave Roberts, apparently—are not allowed to publicly comment on free agents, and they wouldn't even if they could. But it's clear that San Francisco is in search of star talent and would love to land Ohtani or Yoshinobu Yamamoto—or both.
A fascinating development happened after Dave Roberts spilled the beans and talked about the Dodgers' recent meeting with Ohtani. The New York and Los Angeles-based media turned on Ohtani and sided with Roberts and LA. We guess that shouldn't be too surprising, but it was a bad look for those media members who applauded Roberts and criticized Ohtani for having a preference for privacy.
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The best daily San Francisco Giants podcast. Whether the Giants are winning championships or retooling for another title run, Locked On Giants host Ben Kaspick—a lifelong Giants fan and former contributor for RotoGraphs and Beyond the Box Score—breaks down every game, rumor, and transaction in a way that's data-driven and rational but also simple, passionate, and accessible to all.
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